


Going to School

by Baozhale



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, North America, North American Wizardry, United States
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9066481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baozhale/pseuds/Baozhale
Summary: I don't buy a duplication of Hogwarts style education for North America as a whole. Nor, for that matter, do I buy that there's one system for North America as a whole, or even for the US as a whole. But here's how I think the main "public" school system might run. I assume there is a Historically Black system (or branch) too, which I am not qualified to write, and that I am absolutely not qualified to write a Native American system either.





	

Let us start, as childhood does, with the young ones. In some communities, there might be a wizarding daycare, or a wizarding preschool. (And there are communities, no one _likes_ the feeling of Apparition and so many wizards will congregate within the same few suburbs, the same few school districts.) The class is small, just because there aren't _that_ many wizards. It doesn't even run every year.

In other communities, or in years when there aren't enough children to justify the wizards group, wizarding toddlers and preschoolers may attend the No-Mag version. “Oh, you know how children that age are. Such active imaginations!” is the excuse for any magical secrets their children may spill, not having learned to keep secrecy yet. It even works. The explanation covers accidental magic too, so long as the only witnesses were _other children_.

There are a few wizarding elementary schools. Day schools, of course. Usually half days, at that. We don't have the same tradition of boarding schools as Europe, and these children are five to eleven years old! They can still learn a bit of history, a bit of theory, maybe mix some safe ingredients in a cauldron, fly in a secluded area where the No-Mags won't see. There are daily Portkeys, arranged from wizarding homes. This is where the “homeschool group” begins. It's the perfect excuse, because No-Mag families really do school their children at home sometimes, and they really do form family groups that work together for this purpose. So when a group of wizarding families use the same idea as a cover, it goes unquestioned.

For others, the “homeschool group” is legitimate. Spellwork requiring a wand isn't taught yet. Whatever parts of wizarding history the parent of the day considers interesting or important is. The rules of Quidditch (American) are taught, along with the rules of Snitchem (International Quidditch.) Wizarding baseball is popular too, with enchantments on the ball so it can explode on contact with almost anything. (It's an automatic home run if it explodes from being hit, out if it explodes in the catchers mitt, and purely _hilarious_ if it's from anyone else's catch. An explosion on a catch that would normally result in an out is still an out. Explosions on ground contact are awarded bases based on a diagram of the field, with variations causing a home run on one field to be a double on others … and vice versa.) Sometimes they teach a few simple potions that don't require a wand. Sometimes they teach children to read star charts and tea leaves, or interpret dreams. Sometimes a younger sibling _who keeps stealing my Arithmancy book!_ badgers an older sibling into teaching them more advanced theoretical subjects, and the whole group tags along. Maybe they arrange group Portkeys to wizarding sporting events, or to a school where the kids can play for themselves. Think Little League wizarding baseball, or Quidditch (either kind.)

There's no real system here, that's the point. Some parents even send their children to the local No-Mag school for at least part of elementary school. Instead of a homeschool group, they have an after school program. It's completely legitimate, registered with the school and everything. “Newspaper club” or “Volunteer club” or something of that sort. A few brave souls called it “Magic club”, trusting the anti-No-Mag enchantments to keep any non-wizards from registering. It's a very specific Muggle Repelling Charm (the charm has a name, even if we call them No-Mags here) on the paper. They have no problem picking up the sign-up sheet, reading it, seeing who else is signed up. The one thing they _won't_ do is actually sign up. When they have their own “bus” (usually a minivan) it has a similarly specific charm. A No-Mag can come near the bus, can walk their witch and wizard friends to the bus, but _will not board_. And yes, children have been known to find out that they were witches or wizards by joining these clubs, rather than learning their status when a letter arrives.

Then there are the parents who quietly take an advanced nine or ten year old to get their wand, and try to sneak them off to the next level early. (What, No-Mag students skip grades!) Sometimes it works. Other times, they get the wand and start practicing spells at home, but don't get to start at the “middle school” equivalent early.

At the middle school/junior high level, we _finally_ get most of the wizarding students in a formal context. Not all, there's still home education, but most. The students who didn't get early access go get their wands on their eleventh birthdays. Then they either go off to a wizarding middle school (11-13 at the start of the year, theoretically) or have one more year at home with the group before they go to a junior high (12-13 at the start of the year, still theoretically.) Sometimes that's determined by which school or schools are vaguely nearby, but there are always the students whose parents want to get rid of them early and send them further away to _make it happen_. Near big cities, you can usually choose without needing to go far. If you happen to live near enough to a big city school, you might even take a big yellow school bus each day.

New elective subjects are added at the start of high school (unless the middle school or junior high had electives, which sometimes happens, but you can _change_ your electives at this point if you had them before.) If you keep an elective you had before, you'll _usually_ jump in with the high school second year level coming from a junior high and take a test to determine if you should join the second or third year level coming from a middle school or home school. It's messy. There are always exceptions. Don't look too hard at the firsty who's preparing to take the Arithmancy N.E.W.T. and get an apprenticeship in England this summer. She wants to follow her parents into spell creation.

There aren't quite as many high schools as middle schools. There's still enough for an Eastern League, a Western League, a Mid-North, and a Mid-South. Sports are played within the League for most of the year, then the champions of each fight it out for the national title. Quidditch (American) plays a Round Robin tournament, just like the sport everyone _else_ calls Quidditch does at Hogwarts. Snitchem draws lots for the initial match-up, then winners play winners. Wizarding baseball has a few cross-over games during the school year, then advances the top two teams from each league to a complicated championship process that takes most of the summer holiday. Don't ask anyone who didn't play to explain the process.

Apparition is still a big deal, but so is _driving_. Most of the wizarding high schools have a driving instructor (also wizarding) who can legally count for drivers ed, but _also_ teaches using the extra features wizards can add to their vehicles. Students who depend on these features are absolutely safe on the road, but may need to Confund the examiner unless they are lucky enough to get a wizard to test them. Others attend a No-Mag drivers ed program over break. These students need to have the wizarding features explained later, but can usually pass the driving test with a No-Mag examiner, _without_ Confunding them.

While most of the high schools are still predominantly day programs, most of them have dormitories of some sort. Often, it's just guest dorms to host teams from other schools for baseball series, who arrive Friday evening and leave late Sunday night. Sometimes there will be students who stay over after a club runs late. A few have provisions for regular boarders, or for people who live at school Monday-Friday and go home on weekends. Once again, the point is: we don't have a set system. We have a mess.

 


End file.
